Campo, David: Geysers

a fanfare for brass and percussion

While Old Faithful is the best known geyser in Yellowstone National Park, it is only one of over five hundred geysers there, representing over half of our planet's active thermal features. The incredible amount of geological activity that occurs in the park is due to the fact that much of Yellowstone sits inside an ancient volcanic caldera that over hundreds of thousands of years has filled the space beneath its collapsed crater with lava, in many cases as little as two to five miles beneath the surface. This volcanic activity heats the groundwater and creates the thermal features Yellowstone is famous for. However, knowing the science and geology doesn’t diminish the visceral experience of witnessing the eruption of any of the geysers in the numerous geyser basins in Yellowstone. Expelling anywhere for four to eight thousand gallons of superheated water over 180 feet in the air, the sheer power and majesty of Old Faithful is simultaneously awe inspiring and humbling. My experience of witnessing this natural wonder served as the inspiration for this fanfare for brass and percussion.